Stans NoTubes
ZTR Arch 29er
Wheelset

Product Description

ZTR ARCH EX 29er Wheelset How do you improve an already fantastic wheelset likeThe ZTR ARCH 29er wheelset for 2012? Well, you start by making it lighter, wider and stiffer for increased strength. That lighter weight will help you accelerate faster andThe internal arch design inThe rim will make sureThat your wheels are strong enoughTo keep you onTheTrail. Bead SocketTechnology will give you superiorTubeless compatibility when used withThe included yellowTape. The perfect rim for Aggressive X

User Reviews

Weaknesses: Durability is proving to be weak and consistent with most gripes about the wheels.

Bottom Line:

I finally spent the big coin on a 2015 Specialize endure elite 29r. I saved money by going aluminum and was able to make some good upgrades including having Stans tubeless wheels built. The first 8 months of riding no problem but last 3 months bike has to go to shop for tuning of wheels. Ive been getting the infamous rear wheel creak as well. Bottom line, bike is back in shop and I'm not riding. When I PAY for performance equipment I expect durability to be high and reading these reviews i see I'm not the only one having similar problems.

I had these wheels on an Ibis Ripley I bought from Competitive Cylist last year. I loved the Ripley, but it was super noisy, which drove me nuts. It sounded like a creaky old rocking chair not a $5K bike! I spent most of the past year taking that bike apart, greasing and reassembling. Long story short, I finally started to suspect the rear wheel so I replaced it and the noise went away. On inspecting the wheel I noticed that the spokes were pretty loose and unevenly tensioned. I also noted that my rear cog had started to gouge the freehub body. So, I'm not particularly impressed.

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Fernando

Date Reviewed: August 11, 2014

Strengths: The rims are fine after 100 hrs, one spoke broken.

Weaknesses: Hard replace spokes, freehub went out after 100 hrs of XC.

Bottom Line:

Although these rims are light and a good value for the money; I wouldnt recomend them

Strengths: Lightweight for a strong wheel set. Strong for a lightweight wheel set. Very versatile when converting hubs to most any axle.

Weaknesses: I see no weakness so far.

Bottom Line:

I purchased the ZTR ArchEX wheels 2 years ago to replace a taco'd rear stock Alex rim on my Marin Pine Mountain. I immediately felt the weight difference, and going tubeless was amazing. Setting the wheels up was super easy with a floor pump using my conti race kings. Fast forward several months: I purchased a Transition TransAM 29. I had to order the hub conversion kit for the front (lost the ones that came with the set) and rear. This process took me around a half hour and I had no issues. I also switched to Schwalbe Nobby Nic tires (non-tubeless) and the process again was a piece of cake.

The only issue that I thought I might have was the terrain that I ride has changed from the typical up/down XC singletrack to trying to find the rootiest rockiest descents, and slowly getting more and more air time. The ArchEX set has held up great and is still as true as the day I mounted them. If an issue arises because of my usage (not the wheels themselves) I will most likely replace with Flows...

For nearly the entire first year of riding my new bike, equipped with a front and rear Arch 29 wheelset, there were no issues with the wheels. Then, in January-February 2013, I began to hear a creak emanating from the rear of the bike. The creak manifested itself when riding uphill, although intermittent in nature. At first, my LBS thought it was the carbon insert in the rear rocker of the bike, but after a trip to the bike HQ, that was determined not to be the case. While at the bike HQ all bearings and pivot points were examined and replaced. The noise briefly abated for a few rides, and then returned.

I had a thought to try someone else’s rear wheel on my bike, to rule out the bike/frame components as issues. When I tried a different rear wheel, the creaking completely disappeared. The LBS looked more closely at the problem rear wheel and when the wheel was mounted in the rear and physically pushed towards the seat stays, the creaking reappeared. The LBS disassembled the rear hub and found that there existed a small amount of space around the bearing and that space contributed to the creaking. The LBS sent pictures to Stan's describing the problem and asked for a replacement wheel. The LBS' opinion was that this was a manufacturing defect and Stan's company would probably replace the wheel gratis. Meanwhile, a black or green compound substance made by Locktite was used that took up the gap between the bearing and the hub. This worked for a couple of rides; then the creaking returned.

Shawn, warranty manager, got involved and refused to send me a new wheel, but sold me a new wheel and agreed that if your company, for some unknown reason, did not honor the manufacturing defect as a warranty issue, would refund part of the money paid for the new wheel. A new wheel was sent and since then, no creaking or other issues have arisen. In fact,
another seemingly unrelated issue seemed to have resolved itself. Irrespective of which front chain ring the chain resided on, there was a delay up shifting from the fourth cog to the next
larger cog. No amount of adjusting or replacing of cables/cable housing corrected the problem. When the new rear wheel was mounted, the shifting issue disappeared immediately.

So, since then, Stan's told me that they could have rebuilt the first wheel with a new hub, CHARGING ME FOR A REBUILD CHARGE. Are you kidding me?? They agreed that the wheel was defective. Now, Stan's wants to nickel and dime me to death on this issue.

In the end, Stan's charged me $195 for a new back wheel. I had to pay $140 for the new wheel, which was better than $355, but wtf! I don't agree with their decision and advise all bikers to NOT EXPECT MUCH FROM STAN'S WHEN IT COMES TO WARRANTY WORK!!!!

Strengths: Price to weight ratio, great wheel when used for XC riding, simple to service hubs.

Weaknesses: build is not great out of the box, do take some maintenance, soft free hub body.

Bottom Line:

I really like these wheels for the price, I have them with the SS hub, right out of the box I mount up tires with no sealant, then I pull the tires off, and re tension the wheels. I am 185 lb and I beat the hell out of my wheels, I have been happy with how they have held up. For the price! If I rode more gnarly stuff more often I would start to look else where for a little better hub.

I bought these wheels with high hopes and was quickly disappointed. The price on these seems a little too good to be true and it is. I ride xc (I'm on a hard tail 29er) and these wheels do not stand up to the test. After a summer of riding in Colorado both rims have become so out of true that they need to be replaced. The rear hub has started to catch (a friend who bought the wheels a the same time as I did also had a problem with his rear hub and had to send the wheel back). The freehub body is extremely soft on both my wheel and on my friends we had to use two chain whips to remove the cassette as it had dug into the metal of the freehub body.

A shop mechanic was riding with me when I destroyed my front wheel and he couldn't believe it. I washed out in some sand and got up to find the wheel would no longer pass through the fork. When I went to get the my rear wheel repaired the mechanic had to replace the nipples because they were too soft to put any tension on.

Bottom line: You get what you pay for and these are cheap for how much they weight.

Strengths: Strong, True, Fast, Perfect for riders who want that balance between weight and strength. Oh, and they come in white!!!

Weaknesses: Can be pricey (maybe not compared to similar sets)...I purchased mine with a 15% military discount offer.
White is slightly heavier than black. :(

Bottom Line:

I own a set of 'Arc'h AND 'Arch EX'. My main bike has the newer EX and other than a slight difference in looks, I cannot tell the difference (mainly because I peeled the stickers off). Sure the EX are slightly wider, but I never had a problem with burping a tire before, and I certainly don't now. These rims (built with Hope hubs) have been fantastic over the last year. I have ridden them on hard trails with many roots, rocks, drops and jumps and they have performed flawlessly. I will not use another wheel.

I recently put these on an old GF rig in place of the stock Bonny Mustang disk. Between the wheels, switching to tubeless, and upgrading the tires, I have had by far the most significant increase in speed from an upgrade I have ever experienced. This was supposed to be a beater bike, and now it is wicked fast. I attribute most of the improvement to the wheels. They are light and tough and roll really well. I'm thrilled to of been able to pick them up for a song, and I would strongly recommend jumping on these if you are still on factory wheels and want a faster bike!

These wheels are truly fantastic. The weight/price/durability ratio is far superior to just about everything else out there. I shopped hard for about a month and compared what felt like every wheelset on the market. These are the best value by a large margin. I'm about 170 lbs. with gear and absolutely pound these things. They hold up to a ton of abuse. They're also incredibly stiff and stay plenty strong through hard cornering. Not to mention they were a breeze to setup tubeless with Geax Saguaros and Stan's sealant. Haven't had any issues whatsoever with squirming tires or burping. I wish I could think of something bad to say about these to make the review seem more "realistic", but there's really nothing I can think of.

Weaknesses: Poor spoke tension from the factory. Cassette body is SOFT. Spokes are an odd size (2.0/1.7) and not stocked by most LBS (not a huge issue). Hubs are fairly loud.

Bottom Line:

These are good rims and decent wheels, but the poor build quality keeps them from being awesome. They came from the factory with VERY uneven tension and loose spokes. I had to true and tension them a number of times, but they seem to have stabilized now.

I'm on my 3rd pair, 3rd generation set of arch wheels, every time I buy a new 29er I buy another set of these bad boys. They are super strong, I run low psi on my tires at 18psi and sometimes hit hard on rocks, and have never dinged any of my arch rims. I can also use a hand pump to set up tubeless on most tires.

replaced stock wheelset on giant anthem x 29er. Rolls over everything. Hard to find, factory is on back order for 3-4 months for this wheelset. Got mine custom built for cheaper than stock price. Probikesupply.com Really helpful shop with great prices and built to whatever specs you want.

I have three sets of these in the household and two have been converted for through-axle via the add on kit you can order from no tubes dot com. very solid wheel set and it came setup and ready for tubeless. I have run mostly maxxis tires on these, but have also run spexicalized captains. solid, never had to true.